76. Duels

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Zaku Abumi is a ninja from the Hidden Sound Village, with black hair styled in a wild manner.

In the anime, Team Dosu travelled to Konohagakure to participate in the Chūnin Exams with the secret goal of killing Sasuke Uchiha.

Before the exam started, Zaku and his teammates overheard Kabuto Yakushi talking about their village and decided to attack him.

After Zaku threw Kunai as a distraction, Dosu attacked Kabuto and damaged his hearing.

To prevent the situation from escalating, the exam proctors, led by Ibiki Morino, appeared and settled things down.

After Zaku passed the written portion of the Chūnin Exams, he moved on to the second phase alongside his teammates.

Zaku has air vents in the palms of his hands, which he uses to unleash Wind Release jutsu and sonic attacks. It's rumoured that Orochimaru may have modified him.

Shigure was a ninja from the Hidden Rain Village, with brown hair, two scars on his face, and stitches at the corners of his mouth. He carries seven umbrellas on his back and has a rather aged appearance.

In the original story, Shigure and his two teammates were killed by Gaara's Sand Waterfall Funeral jutsu, which is as deadly as it sounds.

These two seem much more normal compared to the usual shinobi from Konoha when they first appear, and their meeting is just a series of trash talk.

Shigure starts: "Kid, you're out of luck for meeting me. If you know what's good for you, you should surrender."

Zaku retorts: "Old man, maybe it's time for you to retire."

Hayate Gekkō waved his hand and announced, "The sixth match of the preliminaries, begin!"

Shigure pulled out five umbrellas from his back and threw them into the air, forming hand seals:

"Ninja Art: Senbon Rainstorm!"

The five umbrellas spun rapidly, unleashing countless senbon needles. Under Shigure's chakra control, they surrounded Zaku from all directions and rained down upon him.

As the saying goes, "When it rains needles, you better find cover."

But Zaku wasn't one to sit idly by. Powerful gusts of wind erupted from his palms, blowing the senbon away as he dashed forward, escaping the barrage from all sides.

Of course, Shigure wasn't about to let him off easily and continued to guide the remaining senbon to pursue Zaku.

Zaku charged ahead and closed the distance between himself and Shigure:

"Wind Release: Decapitating Airwaves!"

Shigure quickly removed an umbrella from his back to block, but the powerful air current sent him crashing into the wall, knocking him unconscious.

"Ah... Damn!" Zaku was also hit from behind by the remaining senbon, turning him into a pincushion. Fortunately, the needles weren't strong enough to hit any vital spots.

"The winner is Zaku Abumi," Hayate announced.

Medical staff carried the two away for treatment as the screen began selecting the next battle.

"The next one is me! It's gotta be me!" Rock Lee couldn't help but chant, eager to prove himself.

Kakashi watched Lee, reminiscing about a young Gai.

Gai seemed to sense this, turning to flash Kakashi a thumbs-up and a gleaming smile.

Kakashi chose to ignore him.

The screen finally froze:

[Shino Aburame vs Kin Tsuchi]

Lee deflated like a wilted plant but quickly perked up again, determination burning in his eyes: "The next one will be me."

Shino and Kin entered the arena.

After Hayate announced the start of the match, Kin made the first move, throwing two senbon with bells attached.

Shino dodged calmly, and the senbon embedded themselves into the wall behind him. Shino's brow furrowed slightly at the sound of the bells.

Kin then threw ordinary senbon.

Shino swiftly dodged again, but the sound of bells behind him caused him to freeze.

He noticed that the earlier senbon were connected by wires, and with a simple tug from Kin, the bells rang.

Suddenly, Shino felt dizzy and fell to his knees, Kin standing triumphantly before him.

"I used the sound of the bells to cast a genjutsu. You shouldn't be able to move at all, right? Now, I'll finish you with this!"

As she prepared to throw another senbon, Kin froze in place.

A large swarm of black insects had surrounded her.

"Ah~! What… what is this?!" Kin screamed.

Shino broke free from the genjutsu and stood up: "I'm from the Aburame Clan of Konoha."

He pushed up his sunglasses, speaking calmly, "Insects aren't affected by genjutsu."

Naruto, as a friend, wanted to remind Shino that villains often meet their end because they talk too much, and explaining your abilities to the enemy during battle is a foolish move.

But he decided against it—Shino's enemies probably wouldn't remember anyway.

Next, Shino directed his insects to swarm Kin.

Kin quickly raised her hand: "I surrender!"

Shino's jutsu is truly terrifying, especially for those with entomophobia.

"The winner, Shino Aburame."

Shino retracted his insects and casually walked back to the stands with his hands in his pockets.

Several of the girls in the audience looked at him with a mixture of fear and awe.

Sasuke pondered for a moment—those insects could be dealt with using Fire Release, and Naruto could probably handle them with Water Release.

Sasuke felt that the Chunin Exams so far hadn't been very challenging, except for Neji And Gaara… there was something off about him, something dangerous. He wondered if there was some hidden power at play.

Lee, looking at the scrolling screen, regained his energy. He began practising headstands, rooster stands, push-ups, and other bizarre poses, praying frequently: "Choose me, choose me!"

But once again, he was disappointed.

[Kankuro vs Tsubame]

"The preliminaries, match eight, begin."

Kankuro unfastened the large bundle on his back and placed what looked like a coffin on the ground.

Tsubame wore a bamboo hat with two umbrellas strapped to his back. His ninjutsu was similar to Shigure's, starting with a rain of senbon, though the quantity was far less.

Tsubame didn't expect to land a hit with his first move. After seeing Temari and Gaara's performances earlier, he assumed the Sand Village ninjas were all incredibly strong, so he was already planning his next move.

But to his surprise, the guy across from him got struck by a few senbon after only dodging a bit!

Am I going to win? This guy must be the weak link of the Sand Village trio! I'm so lucky!

Tsubame was overjoyed, but his joy quickly turned to dread.

Kankuro suddenly opened his mouth, spitting out dozens of senbon that struck Tsubame, who had let down his guard.

As Tsubame looked on in shock, Kankuro dropped the sand-covered disguise of a shell, revealing his true form—a puppet.

"It's a puppet!" Tsubame was stunned—it was the first time he had seen a puppet master in action.

The real Kankuro emerged from a cocoon-like bandage on the ground.

Looking at the now-paralyzed Tsubame, he said, "My senbon were coated with poison. If you're not treated in time, you'll die."

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